{"id":12109,"date":"2013-09-30T10:01:24","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T10:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/challengedetroit.org\/blog\/calyssalawyer\/?p=4"},"modified":"2013-09-30T10:01:24","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T10:01:24","slug":"one-detroit-one-pride-my-first-four-weeks-with-the-detroit-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/one-detroit-one-pride-my-first-four-weeks-with-the-detroit-lions\/","title":{"rendered":"One Detroit One Pride: My First Four Weeks with the Detroit Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

If someone had told me a year ago \u00a0that I would\u00a0be working for an NFL team upon graduation, I would have thought they were pulling my leg. If someone had\u00a0went a step further and said: \u2018Calyssa, you\u2019re not only going to work for an NFL team, you\u2019re\u00a0going to move across the country from Chapel Hill, NC to Detroit, MI and work for the Detroit\u00a0Lions,\u201d I would have been completely stunned. You see, I\u2019m new to Detroit. In fact,\u00a0I\u2019m new to the state of Michigan. My first time in Michigan was in May for the Challenge Detroit\u00a0interview trip. Yet, as a military brat growing up, I always said \u201cHome is Where the\u00a0Army Sends Me,\u201d and I have adopted this mindset here in Detroit; Detroit is home now.<\/p>\n

Working for the Lions has been nothing short of amazing. Not only do I get to attend\u00a0every home game (we’ve won both home games so far!), I also get the opportunity to work in\u00a0Ford Field everyday, a state of the art stadium in the heart of downtown Detroit.\u00a0People always ask me: \u201cWell, what do you do with the Lions?\u201d Overall, I assist with the\u00a0development and coordination of marketing materials and promotions; I assist the partnership\u00a0department with account management of Detroit Lions sponsors; and I work with the\u00a0Community Relations department for integration into games with significant community\u00a0involvement.<\/p>\n

Specifically on game day, I supervise 8 fan ambassadors who are responsible for greeting fans\u00a0at different tailgate locations and during the game. For our September 29th game I\u00a0played an even larger role! The NFL mandated that Week 3 for all 32 NFL teams be dedicated\u00a0to Hispanic Heritage Month. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month the Detroit Lions honored Mary Luevanos, a Latina artist, and her\u00a0work with Young Nation, a non-profit that promotes the holistic development of youth in\u00a0Southwest Detroit. I was responsible for most of the details regarding her award, down to\u00a0writing the script for the in stadium presentation. I must say, the coolest part was escorting Mary onto\u00a0the field. Not only did I have a chance to be on the field pre-game for warm ups, \u00a0I also had a chance to mingle with Mary, her friend Gloria,\u00a0her son Johnny, and the director of Young Nation, Erik Howard. I plan on keeping in touch with them\u00a0and volunteering in Southwest Detroit.<\/p>\n

\"Gloria,<\/a>

Gloria, Roary, Johnny and I pregame on the sideline!<\/p><\/div>\n

Besides game day, I also had the opportunity to meet Bruce Katz, a Vice President of the\u00a0Brookings Institution and Founding Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program. As a Public\u00a0Policy Major in college I was ecstatic for this opportunity. Mr. Katz knows EVERYTHING\u00a0there is to know about American cities. He is truly an expert. After speaking at the Techonomy conference he came\u00a0to Ford Field \u00a0to give a presentation on Detroit, its future, and what the Lions can do\u00a0to assist in the Detroit revitalization. I received a signed copy of his book: The Metropolitan\u00a0Revolution.<\/p>\n

\"Bruce<\/a>

Bruce Katz and I<\/p><\/div>\n

So, that\u2019s how my first few weeks with the Lions have been like. I have learned so much about\u00a0sports marketing, running a national football team, and what it really takes to put on a game. I am excited to see what else is in store!<\/p>\n

A remark that a Vikings fan made to me at our season opener really stuck with me, and I’m going to close with\u00a0his comment.\u00a0He said, \u201cYou know, I gotta tell you, this city isn\u2019t all bad. People need to come experience\u00a0it for themselves. This is my first time in Detroit and I\u2019ll definitely be back.\u201d\u00a0I know exactly what he means. There is something special about this place. Despite its struggles,\u00a0which all major cities have, Detroit is the place to be, and I am so happy to have had the\u00a0opportunity to experience it for myself. So, as the Detroit Lions \u00a0say:<\/p>\n

One Detroit. One Pride.<\/p>\n

\"photo\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If someone had told me a year ago \u00a0that I would\u00a0be working for an NFL team upon graduation, I would have thought they were pulling my leg. If someone had\u00a0went a step further and said: \u2018Calyssa, you\u2019re not only going to work for an NFL team, you\u2019re\u00a0going to move across the country from Chapel Hill, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}